[obol] Larid Storm at the Newport South Jetty

[Cindy Ashy]

As soon as I turned down the jetty road, I was
thrilled to see larids as far as the eye could
see...It was an amazing sight...easily 2000+ thousand
gulls blanketed the water in an almost uniform
distribution from the bridge to well past the gull
puddle across to the ship channel. There were another
500-600 gulls at the gull puddle.

It was easier to identify the gulls at the gull puddle
than those in the water but the only obvious
difference in the species composition between the two
locations was a higher percentage of Bonaparte's Gulls
in the water...and the Bonaparte's Gulls seem more
willing to fly than the other species. I found LOTS of
Mew Gulls, Glaucous-winged Gulls far out-numbered
Western Gulls, some California Gulls, and I'm 99.9%
sure I found many examples of Thayer's Gull and
Herring Gull (I wish they'd just wear name tags for
one season LOL). Let me put it this way, I definitely
saw several medium-sized adult gulls (obviously
smaller than Glaucous-winged and Westerns but also
much bigger than the Mew Gulls) with bright pink legs
and a heavily streaked head and neck....heavier
streaking and with much more of a pattern to it than
what you see in Glaucous-winged Gulls. I saw at least
a dozen of these. I also saw some pink-legged gulls
smaller than Glaucous-winged and Westerns with pale
eyes and head streaking and a sturdy thick beak with a
"hook" at the end which I think were Herring
Gulls.....with those intense pale yellow eyes,
streaked head, and thick "hooked" beak, looked
reminiscent of a raptor.

In all of these gulls, I found just ONE Heermann's
Gull (an adult)...as I was studying it, it left the
flock, crossed the street, and walked within a few
feet of my open car window and very cooperatively
posed for a photo. Sometimes you can just feel a
connection with an animal.

The only oddball that I saw was a "Bonaparte's Gull"
that took off from the surface of the water that had
very noticeable YELLOW LEGS, not pink or pinkish.
There are some intriguing possibitlies in Sibley but
although I tried, I just didn't get a good enough
look....on the other hand, I'm quite convinved the
legs were yellow and I don't think it was a lighting
issue. Any thoughts?

There were very few big dark-backed gulls (all
westerns) and none that were really dark-backed. Darn.
All the adult yellow-legged gulls had pure white tails
(well, those I could see clearly). Darn. I couldn't
find any large speckled white gulls with two toned
beaks (haven't found one this season). Darn. All the
wee little gulls turned out to be Bonaparte's Gulls
(except maybe the oddball above). Kinda cool but still
darn.

The gulls did not seem happy about the weather
situation. They continually made all sorts of forlorn
cries that I don't normally hear. The wind literally
kept picking them up and blowing them sideways,
sometimes scraping their feet across the
asphalt....difficult for me to watch. This was
especially true for the smaller gulls. Any of the
gulls that attempted to fly quickly lost control and
made an emergency landing, sometimes with their feet
landing on the back of another gull. The Bonaparte's
Gulls seemed the most adept in the stong wind and
gusts.

5 Black Turnstones kept getting literally blown off
the rocks from down below and up into the gull flock
by gusts of wind that rocked my car to the degree I
began to get nervous. These turnstones had no more
control than a leaf blowing around in the wind.

There were also 8 Harlequin Ducks, the most I've ever
seen there at one time....2 male/male/female trios and
1 male/female duo....they stayed very close to the
south jetty rocks. I also saw 16 pelicans (9 adults),
lots of Surf Scoters singly mixed in with the gulls
(not in a raft), a few Bufflehead (far more at Sally's
Bend), 2 Western Grebes, 1 Common Loon, several
Pelagic Cormorants, and 1 Double-crested Cormorant.
Only the Pelagic Cormorants seemed to be actively
eating.

Cindy Ashy


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